Davis Drives to Career-Best NWSMT Finish at Bowman Gray

Rookie Modified Campaigner Works His Way to Fourth at "The Madhouse"

The hard work and preparation that Spencer Davis and the Hillbilly Racing team put into the August 2 NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour event at historic Bowman Gray Stadium paid off.

After several starts in weekly Modified competition

at the place famously dubbed "The Madhouse,"

Davis and the No. 79 had their chance for success

in the Tour race and grabbed it.

Even with a bit of what he called a "rookie mistake"

in qualifying, Davis was able to score his best career

NASCAR Whelen Southern Modfied Tour finish in

the Strutmasters.com 199.  The fourth-place finish

also gave him a huge boost in his quest for the

Tour's Sunoco Rookie of the Year crown.

"To finish fourth is awesome, it's my best Tour finish so far," said Davis after the race.  "I think we may actually be leading Rookie of the Year now.  It's just an awesome day for Hillbilly Racing.  With a car that got re-clipped after Loudon and it's going home the same way it came off the trailer, that's a good day for racing at Bowman Gray."

Davis made contact with the wall in qualifying, relegating him to an eighth-place starting spot in the 199-lap event at the quarter-mile Bowman Gray Stadium.  From there, he was able to dodge some of the carnage ahead of him and stay inside the top-five throughout the race.

"We had a good race car," added Davis.  "We were mid-pack in practice and I could've been better in qualifying, but I made a rookie mistake.  Coming to my money lap, I drove it off down into the turn and as I was making my apex on the straight away to start turning into the corner again, I hit the wall and ruined the lap. 

We started eighth, fell back a little bit, but got up to fourth when Andy Seuss wrecked.  We kind of hunkered down right there forever.  We had such a long green flag run that we lost our brakes.  We hung on until the end."

With a short break until the August 20 NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour event at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Georgia racer will get back to his fendered-car roots when he competes in the August 9 World Crown 300 at Gresham Motorsports Park.  Davis is a former Pro Late Model champion at the Jefferson, Georgia half mile.